honeywell17's football manager blog

“Juninho celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his second goal during the FA Barclaycard Premiership match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on February 11 2004″

We are conceding and losing more than I would like, but that hasn’t stopped us from leading the league by 11 points. Since my last post we have had 7 games, 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 loss’s. Our goal difference has improved by three, we seem to concede every game and scored pretty much every game too, barring a few exceptions. The youth has a few good prospects, but no where near the likes of Laws and Winsper. It has hit the rocks apparently, but if a consortium takeover does occur I am set to be replaced. Another worrying fact about the takeover is that the leader is the same man who was in charge of Darlo when they were in danger of extinction.

Results

The Ipswich game was annoying as we were 2-0 down, managed to get level and then conceded late on. Peterborough was bad too as we began leading and conceded twice to lose. Otherwise the new signing have been showing their worth, whilst ket players get suspensions and injuries. The rest of the games were pretty bog standard.

Table

We occupy the top spot whilst Southampton would need four wins to our four loss’s to go ahead. Derby, Sunderland, Newcastle and Swansea are in the four places below automatic. Coventry, Charlton and Huddersfield are in the bottom three.

Squad

Matty Laws has been best this season so far and has improved a whole star since the start of the season. Winger’s Thomas and Emnes have also been brilliant. Ritchie De Leat has been solid in defence, whilst Jutkiewicz leads the championship scoring table. McDonald, Easton and McManus has failed to impress me and are facing the exit.

Youth

I have highlighted our new intake, which is promising, but they’re no Matty Laws. On average the standard is high with them all being decent. You can see they’ve added to an already large pool of talent. There are a lot of players there just to fill place, over the years I need to filter these out.

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I am very happy, to say the least. 29 games played, 68 points and +40 goal difference, pretty decent, don’t you think? We are leading by 10 points and have been labelled the championship surprise package. I signed a familiar face, to any of my Northampton readers and two other players. Rumours of consortium take-over plague the region of tee-side. We dominate the stat’s table’s and finally beat Derby.

Results

We have had quite a lot of impressive runs throughout this period of games, but also a few annoying defeats and draws. We ended of League cup journey against Derby. We didn’t progress through the FA cup as we lost to Norwich.

Table

Our league standing is very good and all three relegated teams are in the play-off’s. Derby are in second and Southampton are the other play-off team. Hull,  Huddersfield and Charlton are in the relegation zone. We have the best attack and third best defence.

Transfer

I needed to sign a back-up striker and Pedroza was ideal, he is young, currently good and got potential. I signed Luongo as a back-up mid, but mainly just some potential for the future. I noticed Lalkovic was listed and knew his quality and needed a good winger back-up. Halliday wanted playing time and I started to think he wasn’t worth having. Agustien wanted to leave, he wasn’t playing and when he did it was badly.

Antonio Pedroza

Massimo Luongo

Milan Lalkovic

Team

Jutkiewicz has only just come back from injury and annoyingly Matty Laws has just got injured along with Taylor-Fletcher. Othewise I am very happy with the squad and there are some obvious players who need to go.

Attacking stats

This is a list of our players who have been best in the goal and assist front this season so far;

Matty Laws – 24 (17 goals, 7 assists)

Lukas Jutkiewicz – 22 (18 goals, 4 assists)

Marvin Emnes – 21 (12 goals, 9 assists)

Jerome Thomas – 14 (7 goals, 7 assists)

Kevin Thomson – 11 (2 goals, 9 assists)

Stats

Our attendance could be much better, but as I know in reality the fan base is not big enough and even in the prem days we struggled to fill it. We are doing well in team, but it is mainly recent stats in team. Earlier in the season we were doing better in average rating, but are still dominating. Pass completion and goals are good too.

Thanks for reading,

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We had an amazing pre-season, which we then converted into a brilliant start to the competitive matches. We are in second in the league after four games and have survived the first two cup rounds. The transfers have been good and I think my squad is ready for the coming season. I didn’t mention this last time, but Newcastle, Swansea and Sunderland were relegated to the championship and Charlton, Huddersfield and Sheffield united were promoted from League 1. The teams leaving our league were Reading, Birmingham and West Ham via promotion and Leicester, Doncaster and Portsmouth were relegated. I hired a new assistant who is much better at team talks and overly better.

Results

I like to book lots of friendlies, some more easy and some more challenging, these went well. We then began our league campaign with a 2-0 win over Barnsley. Our only competitive loss against Derby worried me, but we soon got back on track and haven’t looked back since.

(FR) 3-0 win (home) vs Darlington

I decided to start my two promising youngsters Winsper and Laws, this payed off well. Matty Laws scored twice and picked up Man of the match, whilst Ricky Winsper scored despite being a centre back to add to his already fine performance. Rocha, Emnes and Thomson also played well. We dominated all the major stats and had a 62% possession.

(FR) 3-0 win (home) vs Stevenage

For fitness reasons I fielded a very different side and played Scot McDonald as a result. McDonald scored a well deserved hat-trick and was key this game. Along with McDonald, only Rhys Williams and Jason Steele played the full 90 minutes and they stayed on for a reason with great performances. The shots ratio was 16:3 and they had no long shots at all, we had a good possession of 69% improving on last game.

(FR) 7-1 win (away) Evian TG FC

This was the first game in our French tour, it was a very nice welcome to France. We opened scoring, but then were pulled back to a draw, this didn’t last long though as we scored six more. I played Laws and Winsper again and also Kane (Tottenham Loanee) for the second time. Laws did well scoring two, but Kane playing as target man got a rating of 10 and scored five goals. Winsper and Rhys Williams kept a good defence with rating exceeding eight each. Most player achieved very high ratings and I think this was a highlight of the pre-season. This game was more balanced with an equal possession of 50%.

(FR) 4-2 win (away) AJ Auxerre

With England under 19 duty my youth stars couldn’t play so the use of the senior players was required, Emnes and Jutkiewicz leading the front. Emnes scored three and Jutkiewicz scored the one goal. Auxerre put up a good fight but we were always on top. Jason Steele had a poor game and Marvin Emnes was man of the match. This game was more equal and competitive as most stats were only slightly in our favour.

(FR) 1-1 draw (away) LEMANS FC

This wasn’t one of our best performances as only three players reached 7+ plus ratings, one being goalscorer and man of the match Luke Williams. Rhys Williams and Kevin Thomson were the other good performers this match. Stats wise we dominated slightly and did open the scoring. It was the last game of a pretty successful tour of France.

(FR) 3-0 win (home) Rangers

Rangers were one of the stronger teams we played and I felt would measure us up to the standard of at least our own league. The two best players this game were goalscorers Marvin Emnes and Lukas Jutkiewicz. Emnes scored two and got the 9.2 rating, whilst Jutkiewicz scored once and got 8.6. Before getting injured Rhys Williams put in a good performance and at this point has been one of our key players in all our games. This was another close game, we had 52% of possession and most stats were pretty much balanced.

(FR) 3-0 win (home) Westerlo

This team is a Belgian Pro League club in case you’re wondering. We beat them 3-0 with Emnes scoring yet again (twice), with the help of the Australian international Scot McDonald who also scored. Marvin Emnes was man of the match, however Ritchie De Leat put in a very worthy performance. This game we really did dominate in the stats and had a possession of 73%.

(FR) 5-2 win (away) Yeovil

(FR) 0-2 loss (home) Tottenham Reserves

(FR) 6-1 win (away)MK Dons

(FR) 5-1 win (home) Shamrock Rovers

(CHP) 2-0 win (home) Barnsley

We had a dream to start to the season, high crowd at home and a comfortable 2-0 win. Ricardo Rocha scored from a corner and Jerome Thomas scoring a goal from a powerful shot. Both goals came in the second half and captain Kevin Thomson was man of the match. Jamie Ashdown, filling in for Steele who was away on international duty, also played well. The game was fairly even with plenty of chances, however we slightly dominated.

(LC) 3-1 win (away) Bradford

After a terrible cup campaign last season, it was win or nothing, we did win. Matty Laws scoring two, whilst Emnes scored once. The only first half goal was a Matty Laws penalty and Halliday received an injury he is close to returning from. Our two goals and theirs came in the second half. Matty Laws was man of the match in a game we dominated, with 61% possession.

(CHP) 0-1 loss (away) Derby

This was our only competitive loss of the season so far. I though it could be last season all over again, but how very wrong I was. On the 34th minute Davies scored and despite a red card we couldn’t claw one back. Rhys Williams was our best player and was man of the match. All stats were pretty much equal, maybe song going slightly Derby’s way, however possession was a tiny bit dominated by us.

(CHP) 3-0 win (home) Cardiff

Jerome Thomas scored again, McManus got a corner header and Jutkiewicz scored too. This was great as the more we win at home the bigger the crowds get and its will be very hard to fill such a big stadium. All three of our goal came before their red card and helped us to keep a clean sheet. Rocha was man of the match and we bossed the stats.

(CHP) 1-0 win (away) Charlton

This was a very tight game we only won 1-0, courtesy of Lukas Jutkiewicz. This wasn’t a very exciting match, but in terms of shots we dorminated the game. Marvin Emnes was manof the match and we were offside 7 times (charlton once).

(LC) 2-0 win (away) Swansea

This was a continuation of our cup run I hope to extend when we beat Derby. We have been lucky with our draws and we are bound to get a prem club next. Marvi Emnes is really on form scoring twice in this game, in which we were the best team by far. We did miss a penalty and Jerome Thomas was on fire.

Table

Transfers Out

These are all the players I decided to get rid of. I sold Nicky Bailey to Derby for £180K and Julio Arca to Sheffield Wednesday for £60K. I wasn’t aware of Robson’s fee and didn’t see any of it. I also loaned out many and released quite a few.

Transfers In

I only bought one player and spent a larger amount on the loaned in player the rest were on free’s. I will  talk about all of them in the detailed squad analysis.

Squad analysis

This is the full 25 man squad I have put together over the pre-season, looks pretty nifty don’t you think?

Goal keepers

Jason Steele is a long time servant of the club, coming from the academy and breaking into the first team, he is now fast approaching his potential and was a key player in Alan Pardrew’s Olympic squad. He is on very decent wages, even after his agent demanded a pay rise. Hopefully he’ll still be good enough for the next few seasons.

Jamie Ashdown is one of three ex-Portsmouth players at the team, two of which were free this summer. He will serve as the experienced back-up keeper every club needs, I may even look into a very young third choice, but at the moment he will do. His wages are a bit high, but I can afford it and he was a good option.

Defenders

Ritchie De Leat was released from Manchester United in the summer and he had little interest in us, but I snapped him up. He is on high wages, but judging his potential, current skill and value, it must be worth it. He has been in fine form and may be receiving a starting 11 number next season if this keeps up.

Rhys Williams has been one of our stand out player throughout the season so far and is easily worth more than £2.2M. Although his wages are absolutely outrageous. But he’s young and on form so no complaints from me. I can see him reaching at least 60 caps for Australia by the end of his career.

Brain Easton is a new signing this season and was originally rated lower by my old assistant. I now realise he is a better player than I though, as I first wanted him for price and Physical attributes. He is young and his wages are decent. He could be performing better, but we have a whole season to use him. He also adds to the growing Scottish segment of our squad.

I signed Ricardo Rocha last season from Portsmouth and, although aged, is a very high quality defender. I recognise him as a starting 11 player and hope this remains until at least the end of the season. He normally makes the Portugal squad, but rarely plays, his experience is still valuable. His form has been really good, but I suspect he’ll have to play less regularly as the months go on due to age. His wages don’t reflect on his value, but are good for his coach report.

Stephen Ward is a loanee from Wolves, we payed £400K for his services and are also providing half his pay. I will probably rotate my left-backs a lot, but in his games he has played he has played well. He possess very good natural fitness and good work rate, everything else is pretty standard.

McManus is now seen as a back-up defender with a star rating of three. He is slowly getting worse, but his wages really tell a different story. He has occasionally throughout his career played for Scotland, but never for a continuous long spell. He has performed well so far and might push to become a regular.

Ricky Winsper become League cup youngest player at just under the age of 16, when we played Bradford. I try to include in the senior squad a lot to try and for-fill his great potential. He has never failed to impress and has scored at least twice for corners. I received a lot of bid of £1M, thus I rose the price to £10M to deter bidders and received some around the £5M mark. His heading, determination and tackling are already amazing, so I can’t wait to see him as a fully developed player.

Stuart Parnaby came from the Middlesbrough academy and left at some point later on in his career, he was also sun of former youth coach Dave Parnaby. He was available on a free last season and was better than he is now, he still is a good player of course. All thing maoney associated are good and he has played youth football for england. Like most players he has been doing well this season.

Joe Bennett is another academy product and has had Southampton chasing him all pre-season, I said no. he is good and young too, with much potential still left to improve upon. Again he has played well and like Parnaby has youth experience, but much more recently. His acceleration and agility are amazing and what I look for in a full back.

Midfielders

On football manager Kevin Thomson is a great player and plays very well, sadly this is a reality but I am blogging about this game. All round his stats are very good and he probably should have more Scotland caps. In his four competitive games he has player to a high standard is certainly a key player for me.

So far I haven’t seen much of Kemy Agustien, but he has the skill and premier league experience I think I’m looking for. He is an ex youth international and is on a good salary. He is a good passer and has good team work, I believe these two traits go hand in hand. He isn’t old I think he could remain with us for the first few premier league seasons, providing we get there.

I received a few offers for Faris Haroun, which weren’t good enough. He then wanted better wages, I had already had a few of these on other players, so I refused and eventually I got him to say sorry. Mentally and physically he is good. Tiny Mowbray once said “He’s not the silkiest of footballers and he’s no Lionel Messi, but he’s a good athlete”. He has been on good form with a 7+ rating. and is very experienced at youth level, with some senior experience too.

On previous game I would leave Ritchie Smallwood as a reserve or loan him out, but when given a chance he showed great form and became a key member of my team. I have even made him vice captain, his mental attributes are great, work rate, influence and bravery. He is having a bit of a slow start this season, but we must remember he is only young and not long fresh from the finest academy in the world (Middlesbrough).

Attacking Midfielders (most of these can be ST and vice versa)

I signed on a free after his contract with Portsmouth ended, I misjudged his wages badly. He was on £750 per week and I offered him £10K per week up front. He is very good mentally, but really needs to speed up if he wants to reach potential, as I see 24 as the potential cut of age. He hasn’t really had a lot of chances to play this season, but I suspect come an injury crisis he will be there.

Last season Jerome Thomas came in to help with the growing injury list and played well, however this season he has become one of our best and he helps the score sheet too on occasions. He will soon be getting old and sadly I don’t think he’ll be a key player in the prem as his old club were desperate to be rid of him.  His physical attributes are good and you need physical players in the championship.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher is one of our only players to excel in all three area of skill, Technical, Physical and Mental. He may be getting on, but was amazing last season, especially his dazzling runs. He has been ok so far and I really hope he performs like last season without the two major injuries.

For the most part of last season Andy Halliday was out on loan at Crystal Palace. He was doing very well and we were in need of wingers, so he was re-called and did very well, even scoring. I hope as he grows older he performs even better. His potential is good and he has represented Scotland at youth level. His attributes are farely balanced, with nothing that says “Look at me, I’m an amazing attribute”.

Strikers

We have two striker roles, advanced forward and target man. Marvin Emnes is the advanced forward role, but that doesn’t stop him from scoring. In the pre-season he was deadly and is doing very well in the league too. He is young and is very good value for money. His attributes are also balanced.

Luke Williams is a young product of the youth academy and has good potential, I don’t know if he’ll play much and I may loan him out at some point. He is very agile and is on cheap wages, with a high value. I want to give him at least a few sub appearances this season.

Harry Kane is the loanee striker forced upon me through no means of asking. He plays the target man role cleary shown by the 7-1 friendly he scored 5 in. He is decent at the moment and potential isn’t important as we don’t intend to keep him. He has played well and might be useful when others are tired or if some are injured. For a young player he is very good technically.

Scot McDonald is one of our players who could suite both striker roles, but is a better target man from what I’ve seen. His pre-season form was great, but I haven’t seen enough to judge his league form yet, but with all our strikers its tough competition. His wages are high and he’ll be old sooner than later, I think I would have to get rid of him in a season or two.

Lukas Jutkiewicz wasn’t always polish, oh no, he was once English. He was born in sunny Southampton and was able to play for Poland down to his granddad. So the manager of Poland finally realised the player he was missing and gave him a cap. He is our first choice target man and has done well so far, being joint club top league scorer. He is young and still has potential to reach. Physically and technically he’s rather good.

Number 25, Matty Laws became the league cup youngest goalscorer when he scored a great goal at Bradford. He has been playing well this season with 2 cup goals and was stunning in the pre-season, like what I said about Winsper the potential is there and we have to bring it out. (just played Newcastle, he is now youngest championship scorer too).

I will continue to update incomplete match reports after I post this. As you can imagine this took a long time to write

Thanks for reading,

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I have signed one player and booked some friendlies for the coming pre-season. Manchester United and various clubs keep trying to buy my youths, Liverpool even bid £1.1M. I have a lot of player leaving on free transfers. I am going to make sure at the first sign of trouble I improve the tactic, to prevent a repeat of last season. Lukas Jutkiewitz made his polish debut and we are now the feeder club of Tottenham.

My targets

• Finish top half
• Replace un-loyal staff
• Be consistent throughout season

Board

This isn’t a great budget, but I can work wit it. The wages will drop a lot when the players leave next week.

Fixtures

I like to book many friendlies and I have followed this tradition. I have tried to pick easier one’s after last season failure. I have also booked a tour of France. I have also posted the competitive fixtures until next post.

Players I want to bring in

• Mainly a backup keeper
• New defensive player
• Good striker

transfers

He doesn’t look that amazing, but I bought him for his good physical attributes. He was cheap too, at £150K and his contract isn’t bad either. I expect he’ll be more of a rotation player this season. I might have a Tottenham youngster coming in to the squad.

Squad (excluding players going)

At the moment the squad is quite small, but there are a lot in the reserves. The players in the reserves will be released and then the rest loaned. There are some weak very thin areas and I hope to bulk this up with quality players. I could even bring through the promising youth.

Thanks for reading,

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The new tactic is settling in and we held the same position for the last few games, we have won 3 in 6, but overall form is bad. Lots of contracts are set to go, which will let me re-model the squad. I want to aim for play-off’s next season and I now believe tactics are sorted. Some key staff left to other clubs, sadly Dave Parnaby.

Targets acheived

• Achieve high play-off position and hopefully promotion
• Continue already outstanding youth
• Improve weak staff area’s

We didn’t get the main target, but I’m in no rush. I love this club and will take it slow if I need to.

results

We three kind of good spells, but they weren’t too good. Hopefully we can be consistent and not get too many injuries like we did. There are a lot of games when we conceded very late and so lost quite a large amount of points.

table

Reading won to imitate reality and Birmingham went up too. West Ham, Blackpool, Southampton and Crystal Palace will compete in the play offs. Leicester, Doncaster and Portsmouth went down. We came 17th with a terrible goal difference.

Correlation

Our tactic has managed to keep us in the same position and I want to raise the bar next season, I want to field a very attacking side.

transfers

These are all the transfers we made this season. and we managed to spend less than we got through selling. We even bought and sold the same player, within the same season.

senior squad

I have listed all the players who made an appearance this season in order of the times played. If you look down the list you can see I gave some youngsters a good chance.

Players with potential to use next season

These are the players I am prepared to give a game to next season.

Reserves

These are the players and complete league table.

Youth

This the youth team and their league results.

tactics

This is our new tactic which is basically a 4-2-2.

player ideas

• New full backs, very fast
• Good finishing striker
• Holding mid

I must apologize for the lack of text, I was rushed tonight.

Thanks for reading,

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